Twenty-Four: Ten Thousand Silver Dollars

Extend lifespan!

These two words exploded like a thunderclap within the near-desperate lake of Chen Mo's mind.

Refining demons and anomalies not only grants their special abilities but can also directly seize varying amounts of lifespan!

For Chen Mo, whose lifespan was on the verge of exhaustion, this temptation was lethal.

As for the dangers involved, he had already disregarded them entirely!

"Load! Load it all!" Chen Mo roared in his mind without a moment's hesitation.

As the Moonlight Treasure Mirror trembled slightly, a flash of light seemed to ripple across the surface of the jade slip.

In the blink of an eye, the loading was complete.

At that moment, a subtle sensation of crumbling suddenly emanated from the jade slip.

"Crack... snap..."

A series of crisp, fine sounds erupted amidst the surrounding clamor, which had yet to fully subside.

Everyone's gaze instantly shifted from Chen Mo's face to his hands.

They saw that the jade slip, with its dark gold trim and black binding cord, had developed countless spiderweb-like cracks across its surface without any warning!

The cracks spread rapidly, covering every inch of the jade in the blink of an eye!

Following that...

"Clatter..."

The entire jade slip, right before everyone's eyes, completely disintegrated!

It shattered into over a dozen pieces of varying sizes, spilling from Chen Mo's suddenly loosened fingers and clattering onto the ground.

The spiritual light was completely extinguished, and that breathtaking, archaic aura vanished without a trace.

The fragments were dull and gray, devoid of any further wonder.

Even the dark gold trim fragments were tarnished, stripped of all spiritual energy.

The entire intersection seemed as if a mute button had been pressed.

It took a full three or four breaths before someone finally drew a sharp breath.

"It... it shattered?!"

"The jade slip... the jade slip actually shattered on its own?!"

"Heavens! How could this happen? Wasn't it perfectly fine just a moment ago? The restriction was clearly still glowing!"

Cries of shock and lamentation exploded, even louder and more chaotic than when the jade slip had first appeared.

Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events, their faces etched with disbelief.

"What shattered? Move aside and let me through, you old geezers!"

"What the hell is this!"

The crowd rushing in from the outside looked at the pile of fragments on the ground, then at Chen Mo, their eyes widening.

"The spiritual essence is spent! The treasure has collapsed of its own accord!" The old man with white hair and beard was the first to heave a long sigh, beating his chest and stamping his feet in deep anguish.

"I should have foreseen this! I should have known! For such an ancient jade scroll to survive until now preserved by the Yin Stone Seal was already a miracle; the spiritual essence within was already like a candle in the wind, its oil exhausted!"

"...Once removed from the protection of the stone shell and exposed to the air... it's over, all over! A complete ancient inheritance that might have pointed directly to the path of immortality has just... just vanished into thin air before our very eyes! How tragic! How lamentable!"

"Elder Zhang is absolutely right!"

Green-Robed Brother Wang also wore a look of utter frustration, shaking his head repeatedly. "Just looking at the quality of this jade slip and its restriction, one could tell its age was beyond imagination. Now that the spiritual energy is completely depleted and the final force maintaining its form has dissipated, it naturally crumbled into common matter."

"What a pity, what a pity. This young man had heaven-defying luck but no fortune to enjoy it; the priceless treasure in his hands turned into a pile of broken jade in an instant!"

"Hahaha! I told you so!" The short, stocky man finally reacted. A look of intense disappointment flashed across his face, quickly replaced by gloating satisfaction.

"All that flash and flair, only to turn out to be a piece of disposable junk! What a waste of such a big spectacle! Kid, your luck is truly something else!"

The surrounding discussions grew even more chaotic.

"Sigh, all that effort for nothing. This young man must be heartbroken."

"Perhaps it's a blessing, not a curse? A man who harbors a treasure invites trouble; with the jade slip shattered, half his troubles are gone."

"The fragments... are these pieces still useful? After all, it is ancient jade..."

"That young man seemed to freeze while holding the jade slip earlier. Could it be that he sensed the inheritance inside? What a pity it shattered before he could memorize it!"

"How could that be! An inheritance protected by that kind of restriction isn't something you can memorize just by looking at it. Unless he has a special bloodline or a secret treasure... but looking at him, he doesn't seem like it."

Amidst this wave of lamentation and mockery, Chen Mo, the center of the storm, finally moved.

He seemed to have just snapped out of the massive blow, his body swaying slightly. "Damn it all to hell!!"

Chen Mo looked at his empty palms, then at the pile of fragments on the ground that no longer held any spiritual light.

He hurriedly reached out with trembling fingers, scrambling to pick up the larger pieces from the ground.

"How could it... shatter..."

His gaze fell hollowly upon the fragments in his palm, his expression so utterly devastated and soul-crushed that anyone who saw him would believe his grief was genuine to the extreme.

"Fellow Daoist... please accept my condolences," Brother Wang said, a flicker of sympathy rising as he offered words of comfort. "This is Heaven's will; it is beyond human power to defy."

Just as Chen Mo remained in his state of despondency, a slightly shrill voice suddenly rang out from the edge of the crowd.

"Oh my, what a pity, what a shame. Such a fine antique, just shattered like that. But then again..."

The crowd turned to look toward the sound, seeing a thin, gaunt middle-aged man wearing a silk robe and sporting a pair of thin, rat-like whiskers as he pushed his way through the throng.

He rubbed his hands together, his small eyes darting back and forth between the pile of shards on the ground and Chen Mo, his face plastered with a shrewd, calculating smile.

"But then again, broken jade is still jade, and ancient jade is rare indeed. This young brother," he said, bowing toward Chen Mo, who still kept his head lowered, his tone warm and inviting, "these fragments are of no use to you now, and they're sharp enough to cut. Why not... let this humble one take them off your hands?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the surrounding area fell silent for a moment, only to erupt into even louder bursts of laughter and chatter.

"Pfft—! This pile of broken rocks? Someone actually wants them?"

"Is this Hu San trying to scavenge for a bargain again? They're shattered into dust; what kind of bargain could there possibly be?"

"Old Hu, have you gone mad from poverty? You're even buying this?"

The gaunt man known as Hu San was not annoyed; he merely chuckled, turning a deaf ear to the surrounding mockery as he looked at Chen Mo and held up a single finger.

"Young brother, I, Hu San, have always been fair in business. Although these fragments have lost their spiritual essence, they are made of ancient jade and still hold some research value. Take them back to study, and who knows, you might be able to replicate something... I offer this much, how about it?"

He held up one finger.

"Ten silver dollars? You're certainly generous, Old Hu!" someone sneered.

"Ten dollars? To use as a table leg shim?"

Hu San shook his head, cleared his throat, raised his voice, and enunciated clearly: "Not ten dollars. It is—ten thousand! Silver dollars!"

"What?!"

"Ten thousand?! Silver dollars?!"

"Hu San, have you lost your mind?!"

"Just for this pile of broken jade shards?"

The crowd exploded in an instant!

Ten thousand silver dollars was, for most of the low-level figures frequenting the Ghost Market, an absolutely massive fortune!

It was enough to purchase decent medicinal pills or magical artifacts!

To spend it on a pile of shattered jade that had lost all its spiritual energy?

If this wasn't madness, what was?